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NAPPO SECRETARIAT
The NAPPO Secretariat is composed of an Executive Director (ED), a Technical Director (TD), a Translator/Interpreter (T/I), an Administrative Officer (AO) and such other staff as may be approved by the EC. The ED and TD are also members of the Advisory and Management Committee. The Secretariat provides all the necessary logistic and technical support to complete the NAPPO work program as approved by the EC based on the strategic needs and priorities of each NAPPO country.
In 2021 the NAPPO EC approved the hiring of a Scientific Officer for NAPPO. Her short bio is below.
NAPPO |
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR |
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Stephanie Bloem |
SHORT BIO |
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Stephanie Bloem accepted the position of NAPPO Executive Director in July 2015. In this role, she manages the NAPPO Secretariat’s human and financial resources while leading the fulfillment of the NAPPO Executive Committee’s strategic plan and priority goals for North America. She Chairs the NAPPO Advisory and Management Group (AMC). Stephanie was born in Mexico and grew-up in Guatemala. She has a Licenciatura degree in Biology and a Doctorate in Entomology and more than 30 years of experience working on phytosanitary issues around the world. She is a subject matter expert in the area of sterile insect technique and inherited sterility for moth pests. Before joining NAPPO, she was a risk analyst and training specialist for the NPPO of the United States, where her responsibilities included development and review of pest risk analyses for import and export of agricultural commodities for consumption and propagation and the design and delivery of pest risk analysis workshops. |
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NAPPO |
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR |
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Alonso Suazo |
SHORT BIO |
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Alonso Suazo is the NAPPO Technical Director since July 2016. Before NAPPO, Alonso worked for five years as the State Regulatory Entomologist with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture where he was responsible for the coordination, implementation and supervision of multiple state and federal programs aimed at protecting the state’s agriculture and forest resources from invasive insect species. Alonso has also developed New Pest Response Guidelines for the US Department of Agriculture-Animal Plant Health Inspection Services (USDA-APHIS) on forest pest species of concern to the United States and worked on research in multiple areas including population genetics of Africanized honeybees, development of chemical attractants for the small hive beetle Aethina tumida a pest of honeybees, biological control of the Mexican bromeliad weevil Metamasius callizona, and gene mapping of aphid resistance genes in lupin Medicago truncatula. Alonso has also experience in international consultancy work in beekeeping, outreach and teaching. He graduated with a general degree in Agriculture at the Panamerican School of Agriculture in Honduras and a PhD in Entomology at the University of Florida. |
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NAPPO |
TECHNICAL WRITER |
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Nedelka Marín-Martínez |
SHORT BIO |
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Nedelka Marín-Martínez has been working for NAPPO as the Technical Writer/Translator/Interpreter since 1997. Nedelka works on all of the Secretariat’s documents that require translation into either of its official languages, Spanish or English. In addition, Nedelka provides consecutive interpretation during meetings, workshops and conference calls as well as simultaneous interpretation at meetings and conferences. Nedelka’s love for languages began at the University of Panama, in her native Panama. After moving to Canada Nedelka continued her studies at the University of Ottawa where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish (Magna cum laude) and a Graduate Degree in Translation. Nedelka is a Certified Translator (Specialization in Agriculture) through the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario (ATIO) and member of the American Translator Association (ATA). |
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